CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Count former vice president of NFL officiating Mike Pereira among those who thought the "excessive celebration" penalty called against the Browns on Sunday was, well, excessive.

"It strikes me as technically being a foul but also one you could have gone without making, frankly," said Pereira, the longtime NFL official who is now the NFL on Fox rules analyst.

The penalty happened after quarterback Colt McCoy threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Mohamed Massaquoi with 43 seconds left in the Browns' 17-16 victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday in Cleveland Browns Stadium. While catching the ball, Massaquoi tumbled to the ground, then momentarily got on his knees in celebration. While getting up, it looks as if he
loses his balance and falls down, then tight end Ben Watson jumps on top of him in the end zone, both of which violate the league’s rule on excessive celebration.

It's actually the second violation for the excitable Watson, who may want to look before he leaps again. Last season, Watson received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for following tight end Evan Moore into the end zone stands after Moore's first touchdown catch in a 23-20 victory over visiting Cincinnati in the fourth game.

Neither player was available to the media on Monday, and both said on Sunday they weren't sure what they'd done that merited a penalty. But Browns coach Pat Shurmur and linebacker Chris Gocong said the players are aware of the rules.

The rulebook says ...

In Section 3 of the NFL Rule Book, which deals with unsportsmanlike conduct, under taunting, the rule states a penalty shall be called if: “Individual players involved in prolonged or excessive celebrations. Players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations while on the ground. A celebration shall be deemed excessive or prolonged if a player continues to celebrate after a warning from an official. ... Two-or-more players engage in prolonged, excessive, premeditated or choreographed celebrations.”

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"We've reviewed it," Shurmur said. "The league has videos on it. We're aware of the rules and we've got to play by the rules."

Gocong said players know the rules -- especially the ones that could result in fines. Then Gocong joked he and fellow linebacker Scott Fujita already had made a pact.

"Scott and I decided we're just going to shake hands if anybody makes a big play out there," he said.

According to Pereira, some forms of celebration still are allowed. "When the committee tried to clean up this stuff, there were certain things that they grandfathered in," he explained. "That was clearly going to be the Lambeau leap, and it was going to be the Tony Gonzalez dunk. Those were the things they were going to continue to allow. They said on the Lambeau leap it was OK for one guy to jump, but a second guy couldn't jump also. They put some restrictions on it.

"I personally like the rule about not going to the ground to demonstrate because you were having guys lay down on the ground and act like they were putting a pillow under their heads and all that kind of stuff. Clearly, you really had over-the-top things that happened. The problem is that when you do something like that, then you get into this area where, geez, all of a sudden you get into where you take it literally and it becomes a little picky."

Like Sunday's call?

"You read the rule and it's defensible that it's a foul," Pereira said. "Rules are rules, but you try to factor in a bit of common sense and say, 'How egregious is it?'"

All but lost in the commotion was the fact that, according to police, a fan -- 22-year-old Clinton Berry of New London -- jumped onto the field at the same time. Berry, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested and charged with criminal trespass on place of public amusement. He posted $1,000 bond and is scheduled to return to court at 9 a.m. Oct. 13.

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